Windows Mobile update

So I wrote a little news story today noting that Microsoft missed its target of selling 20 million Windows Mobile licenses in its fiscal year 2008, which ended June 30. Here’s the company’s take on this news:

We are excited to announce that Windows Mobile had yet another year of high growth, closing out the 2008 fiscal year by nearly doubling the overall expansion of the market.

As we are enter Fiscal Year 2009, we are preparing for an equally exciting year. Through the magic of Windows Mobile software, services and partner relationships, Microsoft is poised to continue with its impressive growth.

In fact, IDC expects Windows Mobile phones to continue to outsell Apple iPhones in both consumer and enterprise shipments, and by 2012, Windows Mobile is expected to double sales over the iPhone in the consumer space, and have nearly nine times the amount of enterprise deployments.

Looking ahead, Microsoft’s unique vision and approach will continue to create opportunities for the partners and the entire industry, while connecting people to the information they care about most.

Below are some key pieces of information.

Windows Mobile sold more than 18 million licenses in fiscal year 2008, seeing triple digit gains in France, Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Japan and India.

Consumers today can enjoy a number of Windows Mobile 6.1 phones, including the HTC Diamond, Touch Pro, and Samsung Omnia, and anticipation is rising for upcoming devices such as the Sony Xperia X1.

We continued strengthening our position in the enterprise evident by 363 lighthouse wins (500 devices or more) which equaled 1.4m total licenses; 91 were competitive (meaning a RIM BES server was decommissioned).

We have more than 18,000 Windows Mobile applications, recently adding applications from Bloomberg, Reuters, and SAP, giving people the choice and flexibility they demand.

We are continuing to leverage acquisitions including Danger, MobiComp, Musiwave, and aQuantive to deliver the best mobile experience in the market.

Fair enough. Still, I have a hard time embracing Windows Mobile as an innovative, exciting, or even interesting platform. You never know.